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i have also been a silent spectator in this group... just reading all the emails. I have a colostomy a left loop one, coz i met with a major bus accident, wherein the back wheel of a 7 tonne bus ran over my hip and busted my rectum wide open.. I have been with a colostomy from the age of 22, its been 7 years since i had it.
I am from India, and not many people are actually aware of even what a colostomy means. Even I was like that until i was fitted with one. So social acceptance is a small problem here. Even now, when people get to know I have a colostomy, they look at me with raised eyebrows. To add to my woes, I have had a lot of problems also with my colostomy. I have had a lot of colostomy leaks, which have put me into a lot of humiliations too, while I was in college.
But i did learn one lesson, its your attitude that really matters. If you give up, then no matter what advanced technologies you might use, you still will feel low. I did
have a lot of flaws on my side too. I never knew about an ostomy nurse until atleast 5 years after my colostomy and most of my problems were because of that.
But now I did meet an ostomy nurse who did teach me to take care of my colostomy, and life has been nearly normal to me for the past 3 years. I use a technique called an Irrigation system, which my ostomy nurse taught me. Now because I use that I can nearly afford to stay without a colostomy bag even, for atleast 8 hours and that is the time, when I am in my office. Its an airconditioned environment and any odour leak is as good as a catastrophe for me at work. But thanks to the irrigation system I use, I have no worries.
I am not sure about the social reaction elsewhere, but here in India, its still seen as a peculiar handicappedness and not many people actually understand your problem. So I kind of lead a very solitary life, with just a few handful friends, who have known me ever since I was
normal.
Eating habits is definitely the key to maintaining your colostomy. Getting in touch with a dietian and sorting out, what to eat and what to avoid, definitely helped a lot.
Hope this mail was useful, atleast to someone, if not for everyone.
Sorry for a long email though
-Krishnan
jndrmr <jndrmr@...> wrote:
Thank you for your kind thoughts. I'm just a little nervous about
the reversal - there's always a chance that it won't take place
(should there be any undetected cancer on the colon) so I'm afraid
to believe it 100% per cent. I'm afraid that most of what I would
say for the down days is very trite - but what always seemed to help
for me was to compare whatever was going on to what could be going
on if there was no colostomy. As I mentioned - diarrhea - problem
whether you have a colostomy or not (In some ways we have it better -
we don't need to run to the bathroom and hope we make it) For
females - we had to deal with periods most of our life - so we're
used to dealing with keeping our bodies running smoothly and not
having the world be aware. The trite answers - I wouldn't have
wanted to have a colostomy 20 or 30 years ago - but the products
today are fantastic at helping us continue a normal life. Your
boyfriend proposed - your life really is going forward. The other -
the most trite of all - if we can't eliminate, we die - I prefer the
colostomy to death. Good luck to everyone as we make our way through
this forest of life...
--- In colostomy@yahoogroups.com, rmsprack@... wrote:
>
> I am so happy you are getting the reversal. I am a 34 yr old
female and have
> had my colostomy since october of of 05. I am still adjusting,
some days I am
> fine, some days I get so depressed. My boyfriend proposed on
Easter Weekend.
> So I asume it is not affecting him. Any advice on days when you
are low? Thanks
> , Regan
>
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